JACKSONVILLE – Practice starts at 9:55. First day of school!
Let's get to it...
Paul from Lohrville, IA:
When I saw the Jaguars signed Ray Polk I was initially confused. Safety appears to be filled with young, developing talent, but when I read that he has 4.3-second speed and looked at his size, he screams corner to me. Am I off in my assumption or am I seeing this as the coaches do? Bring him in, see if he can play corner in this scheme and if not . . . well, we are not out much.
John: I'm sorry you were confused. I wouldn't overthink each transaction the Jaguars make this training camp, preseason and regular season. If you overthink each one, you're going to be very tired because there are going to be a ton of transactions and not all are going to come accompanied by a sneaky, master plan. The Jaguars are going to sign a lot of guys released by other teams, and those players are likely going to rotate a lot at the bottom of the roster, with a few ascending as time goes on. As for Polk, his background is as a safety and so far, there's nothing to indicate a position change. Practice starts Friday morning, and they may let him stretch before he moves positions.
Sam from Orlando, FL:
My Ask Vic coffee mug is anything but a cheap gimmick, it is one of the highlights of my meager existence.
John: I completely understand and envy you. I wish in my existence I had highlights.
Daniel from Santa Rosa, CA:
I'm totally a backer of Bradley's competition plan. But I ran across an article on ESPN about quarterback Jeff Driskel at UF being more relaxed without the competition and they are thinking he will perform better now that he doesn't have to worry about getting benched or splitting reps with another quarterback. Is this just the difference between college players and the pros? Or is too much competition a bad thing?
John: I'm not going to write an essay about what Bradley means by competition here except to say there are different shades of the word. At its core, Bradley's idea of it is about players competing constantly to get better and doing it against themselves to reach the highest level. Think about guys like Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers or Peyton Manning. They aren't worried about their starting jobs, yet they likely compete more intensely in camp than a lot of players who are worried about getting benched or splitting repetitions. Bradley's ideal is that every player would compete that way all the time. Now, in Jaguars camp this season there is a lot of competition and a lot of it will be about roster spots and jobs, but even when those jobs are decided, you're going to hear him continue to talk about the competition against oneself to reach the highest level possible.
Tudor from St. Augustine, FL:
I do not understand the purpose or reason for the "#" in "#Moodachay." Please explain.
John: Some things just "are."
BMac from Greenwood, IN:
Jimbo Fisher says, "If you have a soft quarterback, your team will be soft. If you have a tough quarterback, your team will be tough. Is it really that simple?
John: Sometimes people say things to say them. Juice said he was going to catch the guy, and here we are 20 years later.
Doug from Jacksonville:
It has been great to see the articles about football again along with the O-Zone answering football-related questions. If Cyprien's injury is really only thought to keep him out a week or so what is the benefit of putting on the PUP?
John: First off, the O-Zone never had a day in the offseason where it didn't address football questions. As far as Cyprien, he isn't on the Physically Unable to Perform list. He's on the reserve-Non-Football Injury list, but in terms of your question, it's pretty much the same answer. You put players on those lists to preserve their status for the season as a precautionary measure. In the case of a player on PUP, being on PUP means they can be protected and activated during the season rather than taking a roster spot or being placed on injured reserve. In the case of the Non-Football Injury list, it is essentially the same as PUP, except used for players whose injuries aren't related to football. Either way, you put players on the lists to start training camp because there's no risk in putting them there.
Tater from Fort Lauderdale, FL:
Will clothing be optional in the pools at the stadium?
John: Life is about choices. There are ramifications for many things, of course, but you make your own choices.
Jake from State Farm:
John, with so many rookie and veteran players out there coming and going, how do teams know what's out there? Does the NFL keep an official database of those willing/eligible to play and how to contact them or are the teams left to figure it out on their own.
John: There is a database of players who have played in the league, and the NFL does track its present and former players. But in terms of finding players, teams keep their own databases. Teams generally enter players in their database when scouting them while the players are in college, and then keep that updated during a player's career. A team's pro scouting department tracks players on other teams in the league while they are playing, and also keeps track of potential free agents.
Dude from Jacksonville:
Do you ever get questions from your son? Or your family, for that matter
John: Oh, I get questions from my family. Oh, do I . . . #whydontyouworkmorenights #whenareyouleaving #isjpshadrickhisrealname #canihavemoremoney #whydontyouleavemealone #whydidntImarryMikeGordon
Stephen from Jacksonville:
Barring injury, is Luke Joeckel a definite Week 1 starter? What kind of preseason playing time do you think he will be given to prepare him for this? If he shows any signs that he isn't ready to start, might the team play a veteran backup and slowly work Joeckel into the starting lineup?
John: 1.Yes. 2.As much as he needs. 3.I wouldn't worry about that.
William from Fernandina Beach, FL:
Do you think there's a good chance they only go with two quarterbacks as Robinson could fill if both No. 1 and No. 2 went down?
John: I think there's a good chance they might keep two quarterbacks because that has become a very common approach for teams. If that happened, then Robinson would be the odds-on choice for emergency quarterback. But I don't think that would be why they made the decision. They might do it, but Robinson's abilities at quarterback probably wouldn't sway them significantly one way or the other.
Parko from London:
With the Jags playing home games in London for the next few years, will all the Jags games take priority in being "nationally" televised in London over other NFL teams?
John: No. The games in London are part of the regular broadcast schedule.
Jim from Jacksonville:
I know I'm late to the game, but what exactly does Moodachay mean???
John: With camp beginning, it may be time for a Moodachay reset. It began here. July 8. It grew from there. It's now a "thing." I don't know why. #Moodachay
George from Savannah, GA:
After reading Austen Lane's story in The MMQB with Peter King it would be nice if we could elevate the quality of questions in this column. I can't imagine reading another idiotic moodachay or movie reference after having read Kings' article! We and you can do better!
John: Oh, I think we and I do just fine, frankly. As we begin 2013 training camp, this probably isn't a bad time to reiterate something for about the umpteenth time in a little more than two years. I reiterate not because I love reiterating myself, but because there are readers who don't read every day and there are those who check out for the offseason. That's fine. There are those who would argue I checked out a long time ago. What I'll reiterate is while the O-Zone may be the editorial element some people most-closely associate with jaguars.com, it is absolutely not the only editorial element of jaguars.com and never has been portrayed by yours truly that way. As such, it is not meant to represent the entirety of coverage of the Jaguars on the website. We have videos. We have news stories. We have other editorials. We have J.P. "Where Did I Put My Glass?" Shadrick. We have Jeff "Yes, I Played in the Denver Game" Lageman. We stream radio shows that feature Tony "Look How Humble I Am" Boselli. We have a series of featured columns such as What We Learned, 10 Things, Setting the Table, Fabulous Four. With the exception of our "O-Zone" Video mailbag and our View from the O-Zone video segments, I think people will find throughout the site a decided lack of idiotic moodachay references, movie references, or cases of yours truly acting like a moron. The point I make is this: the O-Zone is a daily gathering place where fans talk about the Jaguars – and yes, the O-Zone always discusses the Jaguars – as well as about Moodachay, movie references, or any other direction the readership of this column may take us. And make no mistake: the direction of the O-Zone almost without fail is decided by the direction of the questions. So, as we start another season of coverage on this free website, I would remind readers that the O-Zone is a place for fun, for conversation, to perhaps learn, to perhaps be idiotic and the rest of jaguars.com typically approaches football seriously and without undue mirth. That's probably not going to change. For those who enjoy it, please, continue to enjoy or tolerate it for what it is and what it is meant to be. For those who do not, we will gladly refund your subscription fee to this site. Oh, #Moodachay.